1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of supports and more specifically, supports for holding and storing a boat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of lifts and supports exist for holding and storing a boat. For example, a typical lift includes a pair of longitudinally extending members upon which the boat nay be floated onto with the members then being liftable to position the boat above the water. For long term storage, boats may be lifted with a crane or other device and then set upon a permanently positioned storage stand. Some stands have immovable members to receive the hull of the boat; however, such stands are less desirable since the configuration or shape of each boat hull is different between boat manufacturers. Thus, the elongated members that support the boat upon the stand are movably mounted to conform and nestingly receive and hold the boat.
An example of a boat support stand is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,447 that has a pair of mutually opposed and pivotally mounted beds. When the boat is set upon one of the beds, the remaining bed will be forced downwardly through a cam and slot combination that connects the inner opposed ends of the two aligned beds thereby conforming the bed to the shape of the boat hull. Large springs return each bed to the horizontal position when the boat is removed thereby horizontally aligning the beds to receive the next boat placed on the stand.
Marinas and other boat storage facilities require a large number of boat storage stands since a separate stand must be used and reserved for each boat As a result, it is desirable to provide a relatively low cost but well constructed boat stand that does not require maintenance such as might be required from inner-connecting and sliding components. Disclosed herein is such a boat storage stand. Our boat store stand includes a single mechanism that not only forces one bed to the downward position when the remaining bed is forced downwardly by the boat hull but also urges both beds to the horizontal position once the boat is removed therefrom.